July 19 Tofield Mercury

Page 8 - The Tofield Mercury, Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Local Highland dancer attends Championship Series in Halifax BY KARI JANZEN Kate Priestley, a local Highland dancer from Tofield, was in Halifax, Nova Scotia from July 26 for the 47th annual ScotDance Canada Championship Series (SDCCS). Priestley began participating in Highland dance at the age of three in 2010. “My aunt did Highland dance and when I was younger, my parents saw I had a ton of energy. I was hopping around the house and they knew that my aunt did Highland dance. So they put me in it and it was good. Got all my energy out,” Priestly said. “It's very intense compared to other dancing, like tap, jazz, ballet. It's very competitive. So in ballet and stuff, there's a lot of ‘everyone gets a medal.’ In a Highland, you go to a competition and not everyone gets a medal, it's just what the judges see. It's a lot of traditional stuff. So you wear kilts that are made

of wool, and if it's an outdoor competition, it gets pretty warm.” Because there are so many participants in the championship series, everyone is split into age groups and levels. “I’m in premier, which is the top level there. There's primary, which is younger kids, beginner, novice, intermediate, and then premier. And so it's a huge competition. It's called Canadians; it's hosted by Canada. And people from all over Canada and all over the world go and there's different age groups because it's so big,” Priestley explained. Although Priestley did not win any awards in Halifax, she says it is good either way, and she always has fun and enjoys meeting new people. “Honestly, it's just, it's good for me to get all the energy out. It's like any sport, really. You do it for the energetic part. And then it's also good to kind of be humbled by the fact

that you don't always win. I go to competitions. I don't win sometimes. It just depends. So you get humbled by that fact a little bit. “But it was really fun. I met a lot of people.” Priestley attends the McKinnon School of Highland Dance in Edmonton.

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